Wuwei County is very large, at least four Jincheng County so big, resting in the Central Plains, that is at least half of the state's territory, but the population is not satisfactory, after a long period of war, to the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty, Liangzhou "Tong County seven, households 5,900", according to the average household of four people, Wuwei County population is only about 25,000, not even comparable to a large county in the Central Plains. This also shows from one side that Wuwei and even the entire Liangzhou are sparsely populated and rarely populated.

Over the Wusheling Ridge, the terrain becomes relatively flat, because it is still early spring in February, the earth is still difficult to find a little green, the eyes are all a desolate yellow, a gust of wind hits, the wind and sand cover the sky and the sun, sweeping the heaven and earth.

The yellow sand goes straight up to the white clouds, a lonely city and ten thousand mountains. Why should Qiang Di complain about the willows, the spring breeze does not pass the jade gate. This is the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Zhilian's "Liangzhou words", describing the style of Liangzhou, later the copyist mistakenly made the Yellow River far away, in order to spread the falsehood, in fact, the Yellow River and Liangzhou are far apart, standing in front of the Yumen Pass is impossible to see the Yellow River no matter what, the wind rolls the yellow sand straight up to the blue sky, there is a lonely city before the high mountain under the sky, there is a lonely city between the heaven and the earth. This is the poet's true portrayal of the natural features of the Yumen area. People who have never been to the desert and the Gobi region cannot experience the power of local sandstorms, let alone imagine how the yellow sand can "go straight up" to the blue sky.

When Liu Yin first arrived in Liangzhou, he really felt the power of the sandstorm here, the kind of flying sand and rocks that were boundless storms, but not how powerful the sandstorm was rendered in later generations, standing in the storm, if you don't catch something, it is likely to be swept into the air, after a sandstorm, the whole team will be submerged in the yellow sand, the face is full of yellow sand, even the eyes, ears, and mouth are filled with sand.

Harsh environment. did not wear out the fighting spirit of the Shu army, and the Shu army marched firmly on the land of Liangzhou step by step.

This is basically a corps composed of all infantry, except for officers above the Sima level, who have war horses to ride, all the soldiers are on foot, which determines that the marching speed of this army is not too fast. Liu Yin also strictly controlled the marching speed at fifty miles a day. As long as you travel fifty miles every day, you can camp, and when you camp, most of them choose to be on the high ground, and there is no danger on all sides, after all, it is entering the range of activities of the Xianbei people, Liu Yin must be cautious.

The speed of the fifty-mile march is not hurried, it is completely within the range that the soldiers can bear, and the intensity of such a march will not make the soldiers feel tired, and they can maintain enough physical strength and energy at all times. You can jump into the battle at any time.

Camping at night is the most dangerous time, the Xianbei cavalry is elusive, coming and going like the wind, in this land, they are the masters, although the infantry corps of the Shu army has super defensive strength, but it can only be a passive response, when to attack. The way to choose when attacking is all decided by the Xianbei people. For the Shu army, there was no choice but to maintain a high degree of vigilance and full vigilance.

The night is the weakest time for defense, and the weather in Liangzhou in February is warm and cold, and it is warm during the day when the sun is shining, but at night. The frost on the ground made people shiver. After a day's march, the people are sleepy and the horses are tired, and it is natural that they will be much more sleepy when camping.

The Shu army, which had just crossed the Wusheling Ridge, encountered an enemy attack on the third night.

The moon is clear and the sand is white. The sentinels in charge of guarding the perimeter saw the black shadows whistling from a long distance, mixed with the sound of brittle horses' hooves, which could be heard far away in the silent night sky.

"There's an enemy attack—" The sentry immediately sounded a warning horn.

In order to maintain sufficient combat effectiveness at night, Liu Yin adopted the method of five infantry battalions taking turns to prepare for battle, and at the same time, four of the five infantry battalions fell asleep, and only one infantry battalion was ready for battle.

Gao Yuan, who was in charge of guarding this night, was patrolling back and forth in the camp, and after the horn sounded, he immediately rushed over, and at the same time, the emotions of the officers and soldiers of the entire Hubu Left Battalion were also mobilized in an instant.

The cavalry of the Xianbei people came very fast, under the cover of the night, when the sentries of the Shu army found them, they were only a thousand steps away from the Shu army camp, and when Gao Yuan arrived at the camp, the cavalry of the Xianbei people was only two or three hundred steps away from the Shu army camp.

"Archers, crossbowmen ready! Defend in formation! Gao Yuan saw the urgency of the situation, and immediately issued a battle order, this battle is since entering the Hexi Route, the first battle with the Xianbei people, and the first line of the gorge and the Xianbei people's contest is different, this time the Shu army with the state of full infantry to meet the Xianbei cavalry, Gao Yuan is very nervous, with a handful of sweat in his palms, his eyes are staring at the Xianbei people who are besieging in the dark night.

"Whoosh-" Countless arrows pierced the silence of the night sky, and in the darkness of the night, turned into a dim streamer and shot towards the Xianbei cavalry on the opposite side.

After countless terrible screams, you can vaguely see that the opposite side is a person on his back and a horse, the Shu army's bow soldiers and crossbowmen are well-trained, even in the dark night, they can shoot a row of arrows, basically there are no dead ends and omissions, and there will be no overlapping arrows.

When camping at night, the Shu army will circle the camp as a fortification to hinder the Xianbei cavalry, and in front of this fortification, several trenches with a depth of feet can be dug in a row, which can effectively block the attack of the cavalry.

The first attack of the Xianbei people was repulsed, in the dark, I don't know how much the Xianbei people lost, Gao Yuan secretly exhaled, and his mood became a little more comfortable, with infantry and cavalry, Gao Yuan did not have a bottom in his heart, not to mention that the other party was a Xianbei cavalry known for its fierceness.

The Xianbei people's attack did have a bit of a tentative taste, so in the first wave of attacks, they did not pour all their strength, just to see how the Shu army's defense was, to the surprise of the Xianbei people, the Shu army's defense was quite in place, and it was not slow to react because it was a night attack, and the defensive ability was still extremely strong.

The first wave of attacks was originally based on concealment and rapidity, and was ready to take the Shu army by surprise, but it was easily defused by Gao Yuan.

Soon, the second wave of Xianbei attacks kicked off. (To be continued.) )